Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 70

The Eldar writhed in his grip, her lithe form struggling to wriggle free. Frail hands beat at his Ceramite plate and pointed feet clawed over his thigh as the Xenos fought his superior strength. It was pointless though, Ferrac's genhanced muscles overpowered the Eldar effortlessly and he held the enemy by the neck in his gauntlet. At his feet a dead animal with two legs and vicious fangs lay sprawled upon the floor, its throat torn out to gush blood over the precarious drop nearby.

Ferrac was breathing hard and his back burned where his armour had exerted itself to the limit. It had been a rough fight but once more he had emerged victorious, the piles of slain Eldar hanging off the high beams attested to that. Ferrac was standing in a vast chamber, dark and barely lit. It was buried deep within the Apophis, near to the heart of the derelict ship and so large even he had trouble making out the far walls. The space was filled with huge columns in orderly rows, each ten times as wide as he was tall and stretching from the roof to the floor, which was covered in bulky machinery. Their sides were ribbed with reinforcing buttresses and odd windows, behind which could be seen arcane devices and strange implements whose function he had no understanding of. Metallic beams passed between the columns, linked by narrow spars and accessed by steep ramps, filled with cables and conduits but also serving as bridges for him to walk on. The entire space throbbed with a sense of latent power, of vast machinery carrying out mighty operations that could snuff out a man's life without even noticing. Even after many millennia of neglect an aura of grandeur clung to the place and stirred a latent fear in the hearts of any Voidfarers. For this was the Apophis' Warp Drive, an eldritch engine that could rip apart reality and allow a Starship to enter the nightmarish realm of the Empyrean.

Ferrac paid it no mind though as he examined his foe, a slim female with flashes of red painted on her cheeks. She had come at him in the battle with a whip in hand, riding her mount with a skill he begrudgingly admitted was beyond human. It hadn't helped, Ferrac had torn the animal's legs out from under it and seized the rider in his grip. He noticed that on her chest was bound one of those odd stones all Eldar seemed to wear, even this Feral breed and he reached out to pluck it from her.

The Eldar became frantic in his grip as she discerned his intent and cried in mangled Low Gothic, "Don't touch, filthy Mon-Keigh!"

Ferrac grinned under his helm and said, "So you can speak, good. Tell me how many more of your kind are down here."

Ferrac despised all Xenos, but he was forced to admit the Xeno had some courage as she spat, "Never."

Ferrac growled, "Knife-eared witch, speak or die slowly."

The Eldar spat back, "I die first."

It seemed her mind was made up so Ferrac sighed resignedly, "As you wish."

Ferrac moved his arm laterally, holding the Eldar out over the drop. The female's eyes went wide as she realised what he was going to do and her hands beat feebly on his armoured limb. It was futile though, she was powerless to resist as Ferrac dangled her over nothingness, then opened his hand. The Eldar's mouth went wide in denial and her eyes screamed in terror but then she was gone, falling away into the dark below. Her brief scream faded as Ferrac flexed his fingers and lowered his arm, silently counting under his breath.

There was heavy footfall behind him as Brother Seyda closed, a Burst-lance held in both hands as he said, "Battle-Captain, we…."

"Wait," Ferrac said still counting until he heard a soft thump, "Huh, given local gravity that's fifty metres, more than enough to finish her off. What did you want?"

Seyda replied, "We have finished off these enemies, we need to relocate before more come."

"Agreed," Ferrac said, "Radfal, pack up the projector, we're moving out."

On a lower beam Brother Radfal slung his Bile-flamer and bent over the Frost-field projector. They had used its unique mechanism to good effect several times already and had taken Eldar hunting parties by surprise. Across the Apophis the Amber Vipers had left a trail of slain Eldar, a testament to the Space Marine's fury. Ferrac had lost count of how many they had slaughtered but he knew the number was considerable. The Eldar were not a foe that enjoyed inexhaustible numbers, surely the death toll must be weakening them significantly.

Ferrac strode to meet Radfal as he said, "We are doing well, so long as we can keep up these ambushes we can defeat them in detail."

Seyda followed him saying, "At this rate we will kill them all."

Ferrac concurred, "Fewer knife-ears in the galaxy is always a good thing. The other teams report similar successes."

Seyda mused, "Once we defeat these hunters, what then? Shall we return to the surface and try to contact the Chapter?"

Ferrac grunted, "One problem at a time, first we have to kill the remaining foes."

The pair had nearly reached Radfal and were about to drop onto his level when there was a sudden rush of noise. Ferrac's eyes snapped to the floor and he saw one of the large openings into the chamber filled with jerking lights, cast by approaching lamps. The sound of many claws striking metal rang forth and Ferrac realised the Eldar had found them; the hunters were converging on their location in great number.

Radfal lifted his Bile-flamer and stood over the projector as he cried, "They've found us!"

Seyda gasped, "We have to fall back."

"Too late," Ferrac snapped then opened his vox to cry, "All Brothers, converge on the Warp Drive. We are about to be overrun."

He stepped off the beam and dropped ten metres, landing with a thud on the lower beam. He ran for Radfal's position and dove inside the protective aura of the bulky device at his feet. An eerie sense of coldness passed over him, but he was moving slowly enough not to be harmed by its molecule-slowing effect. Even as he did so scores of Eldar poured into the Warp Drive chamber, riding their beasts at a fast gallop. First came bounding two-legged beasts, followed by tusked quadrupeds and finally one of those shelled animals, bearing a missile launcher on its back. The Eldar saw the trio standing forty metres above their heads and scores of bows rose high to unleash a flurry of arrows.

"Stand fast!", Ferrac barked as a hail of shafts came at him, their sharp thorns seeking to end his life. Yet when they encountered the barrier of the Frost-field they were caught by its eldritch effects, flash-freezing in mid-air and becoming brittle and weak. Ferrac felt a pattering of shattering splinters cracking against his front, harmlessly bouncing off the Ceramite and barely scratching the paint. If the Eldar were flummoxed by this unusual protection they gave no sign of it for the missile launcher swung upwards and unleashed a volley. Ferrac's stomach flipped as micro-missiles screeched across the distance but he refused to move an inch, forced to trust to the mythical sciences of the ancients. The missiles hit the barrier at supersonic velocity and were drained of molecular energy, freezing in an instant. The missiles explosive warheads were rendered inert but they retained their kinetic force and slammed into him, peppering his body with frozen chunks. Ferrac was forced to take a step back as the impacts rang off him but he pushed into the impacts, keeping his balance.

From within the protective envelope, Seyda laughed, "They can't touch us!"

Yet Ferrac gripped his axe-rake tighter as he growled, "Yes they can."

The Eldar below may not have been able to shoot the Astartes but they were not daunted. They veered off, heading for the access ramps that led up to the beam the Amber Vipers were standing upon. Ferrac saw the Eldar splitting up, intending to rise up both sides and catch the Amber Vipers in a pincer move. He glanced upwards and considered for a second using their jump packs to rise higher but that would only buy them a minute or two more, the Eldar had brought enough force to run them down and if the Astartes left the protective confines of the Frost-field they could be shot down with impunity. Resigned to the fight Ferrac barked, "Radfal, block their advance to the left."

Radfal was hurriedly screwing a fresh canister of toxic chemicals into his Bile-flamer and growled, "Let them come, I have a warm welcome ready for them."

Ferrac faced the other way and commanded, "Seyda, stand with me, nothing gets past us."

Seyda held his Burst-lance ready as he proclaimed, "No Xenos shall escape my wrath."

Ferrac saw the fastest Eldar had crested the ramp and were pouring along the beam. It was just narrow enough for them to be forced to come two-by-two, their bipedal animals bounding forward and their long lances held ready. Further back the larger animals fought to get onto the ramps. The Xenos were closing fast but as they advanced Radfal triggered his Bile-flamer, sending a plume of caustic liquid straight into their faces. Toxic sludge hit the nearest, covering them in corrosive chemicals that burned like acid. The Xenos screamed and flailed at their burning bodies as their mounts roared in agony, bucking hard as their scales were violated by noxious filth. The mounts went wild, bucking and flailing until they lost their footing and tumbled from the sides of the beam, falling to their deaths below. Radfal grimly fired again and again, coating the beam in a swamp of lethal vitriol, denying them access. So long as his canister held out he could block one approach entirely.

Unfortunately in the other direction the Eldar were unimpeded and they galloped into range, lances lowered to strike. Ferrac saw the fanged snouts and long tails of the beasts, he saw their rider's elegant grace and lethal weapons and he knew this would be as tough a fight as he had ever known. They passed through the Frost-field and were chilled by its effects, but were yet slow enough to be unharmed as they dove upon the waiting Astartes. A glittering lance point come at Ferrac and he was forced to duck to avoid being speared through the neck. The rider reacted with blinding speed and twisted the point about, managing to catch Ferrac's left shoulder pad. The energised point ripped through the Ceramite, shattering the linkages of the armour and tearing the pauldron clean off. Pain bit deep into Ferrac's muscles but the affront to his pride was greater, this scum had dishonoured his armour's spirit and sundered the Chapter's icon, this could not stand.

Ferrac swept his axe-rake across, trying to rip out the throat of the animal but it jerked aside and snapped at him, attempting to bite his head off. Ferrac snarled as he dodged the blow, only to have the lance come at him from above. Set upon from two directions he was outmatched, so instead threw himself forward, bodily slamming into the animal. The Eldar and its mount screeched in outrage as they fought to keep from being thrown from the beam but Ferrac redoubled his efforts, pushing his armour and muscles to the limit. The animal snapped vicious fangs at him but he forced his boots to move, pushing forward one inch then another. The rider screamed in outrage and stabbed its lance into his exposed shoulder. The pain was excruciating but he did not yield and after another second the mount lost its balance, toppling off the side to fall to its death.

Ferrac was left to see the effects of his act but was shocked to behold yet more Eldar pressing in. The warrior he had dispatched was merely the first of many and more pressed forward, jostling to get in close and finish him off. Seyda was fending them off as best he was able, spinning his lance about and cleaving limbs into bursts of flaming ash but he could not hold out for more than a few seconds. The numbers set against them were too great to deny and their protective barrier could not stop a slowly moving enemy.

Ferrac saw the battle turning against the Amber Vipers and threw caution to the wind. He jerked forward and yelled, "Cover me!"

Seyda was fending off a beast with green scales and a sneering rider as he cried, "What are you doing?!"

Ferrac hissed, "Something that probably won't work."

The Battle-Captain clamped his axe-rake to his hip and grabbed the Frost-field projector, lifting it with both hands. It was a bulky mechanism, too awkward to carry in combat but if Ferrac's instinct was right he could still use it as a weapon. Ferrac turned and sprinted a few paces forward, clearing a path with his bulk then he angled his body low and triggered his jump pack. A titanic boot kicked him in the rear as the turbines screamed, sending him flying along the length of the beam at terrific velocity. He ploughed through the first few Eldar, rising slightly as he did so, gaining velocity and seeing his idea play out. The Xenos had approached slowly enough to not trigger the field, but now he was the one travelling fast, swift enough to activate the fields' effect. Ferrac shot along the length of the beam and as he did so the Frost-field touched the molecules of the Eldar. The speed of his movement was so great that the device violently ripped energy from their atoms, flash-freezing enemies as he whipped by. Cold fierce as the void gripped the warm hearts of the Eldar, freezing them from the inside out and killing them in a heartbeat as Ferrac roared past.

In seconds Ferrac had travelled the length of the beam, leaving a trial of flash-frozen corpses in his wake. The beam now contained only dead Eldar and he hit the surface shoulder first, rolling to his feet and dropping the device. Behind him frozen corpses fell over like skittles, toppling from the beam in droves. Ferrac had killed a score of them, yet his battle was not over. Coming up the ramp were more enemies, among them the larger beasts with their tusks flashing and broad feet shaking the metal of the ramp. Ferrac saw a hundred enemies coming to claim his life and took up his axe-rake snarling, "Come on then, if I am to walk the road to hell this day then I shall make sure to have plenty of company."